Since the second millennium, the inheritors of the tradition of Nagar Vadhus have been known by numerous names, popular ones being the British-coined nautch (dancing) girls, and the Sanskrit Veshya. When the Mughals arrived, they built on this ancient system of court performers and spawned a wider cultural ecosystem of poets, dancers, and musicians. The courts of medieval era India became a sort of well-funded and respected stage for the melding of diverse instruments, and dance forms like Kathak among others. The sons of noble families vied with each other in their patronage of courtesans, in return for pleasure, and training in both Mughal etiquette.

However, when the British arrived with their Victorian morality and missionary zeal, they found the dances and the culture of performances (mujras) and courtesans scandalous and immoral. According to Louise Brown, author of The Dancing Girls of Lahore, “The Mughal Empire waned at the beginning of the eighteenth century and official support for the performing arts declined. Throughout the nineteenth century, dance became ever more clearly associated with prostitution”.

One after another, the most well-known centres of courtesans who by now had come to be known as Tawaifs because of their whirling dances, either shut down or became stigmatised as only places of pleasure. Post 1857, the loss of native courts in Lucknow, Delhi and Lahore sealed the fate of both courtesans and their royal patrons.

Heera Mandi of Lahore, the marketplace of beauty

The story of Heera Mandi, known as Tibbi in local Lahori parlance, shows that the courtesan culture survived, at least until the 1930s in Lahore, albeit in much-diminished form and stature. Maharaja Ranjit Singh had heavily patronised the culture along the lines of his predecessors, the Mughals.

The Sikh emperor, Maharaja Ranjit Singh (who ruled between 1801 and 1839) was famous for his love of conquest, wine and concubines, the latter of which he had numerous. Heera Mandi was founded as a grain market by Heera Singh Dogra, the son of Dhian Singh, who was Ranjit Singh’s prime minister. Heera Singh, was the de-facto ruler of the Sikh empire with its capital in Lahore, after the ascension of Dilip Singh, the five-year-old son of Ranjit Singh.

The British changed the courtesan culture irrevocably. Brown further writes, “Tawaifs and entertainer castes lost many of their traditional patrons when the British removed a large part of the native elite in northern India.”

Not interested in poetry or Hindustani music, the ordinary rank and file of the British army viewed these women as mere providers of sexual service and frequented the brothels in Heera Mandi and other areas like the Anarkali market.

At the same time, the local elite comprising old noble families, and rich merchants also remained active patrons, clinging to ancient ideas of prestige and privilege. Interestingly, in distant Varanasi, the area where tawaifs lived is also known as Dal (pulses) Mandi. Neither grains nor courtesans are found there now, instead it has become a market for cheap electronic products. The performers have instead moved to Maduadih, on the outskirts of the holy town.

Though having lost its Mughal-era sheen the tradition of training in music and literature seems to have continued through colonial rule.

According to Pran Neville, author of Lahore: A Sentimental Journey, who grew up in Lahore in the early decades of the 20th century, “It would be a mistake to take Hira Mandi for a prostitutes' street, which certainly it was not even though some of its inmates carried on the world's oldest profession for a living.” A few fortunate ones from Heera Mandi found livelihood in the Pakistan film industry. Zahid Akasi, author of Heera Mandi, lists out the names of actresses “Ishrat Chaudhary, Zamurrad and Babra Sharif”, and singers like “Madam Noor Jehan, Farida Khanum, Naseem Begum, Tasawar Khanum, Nahid Begum, Surayya Khanum, etc.”

Today’s Heera Mandi of Lahore is known more for food joints, and shops selling musical instruments. During General Zia Ul Haq’s dictatorship, alcohol, music, dance and all forms of entertainment were banned in an explosion of religious politics. Since then, various religious groups continued to build their politics on banning immoral practices, their worst victims became the Tawaifs of Heera Mandi who left their haven and become invisible in a city which once cherished them, envied or scorned them but couldn’t ignore their charms and charisma.

HistoriCity is a column by author Valay Singh that narrates the story of a city that is in the news, by going back to its documented history, mythology and archaeological digs. The views expressed are personal